GREATER OR LESSER BRITAIN."

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 7, 17 November 1877, Page 3

GREATER OR LESSER BRITAIN."

(From the "Home News.") Hut Jl'Lll'.S Vo 'EL contributes t) til • J current numb -r of the " Nineteenth i Century" 'Hi article on the subject of; Imperial Confederation, as interesting as j it is valuable, under the title of" Greater or Lesser Britain." That the time has now come when England must decide j whether she intends at all costs to retain j her Colonies as an integral part of her i ' Empire, ur whether she will train them j with a view to the attainment of their independence in the perhaps not remote j future —whether she wishes to confirm ] or emphatically and for ever to contradict j the growing impression that sooner or I iter the tie which now holds the; Colonies to the mother country must be snapped—is the thesis which Sir Julius Vogel starts with establishing. That it is to the interest equally of the mother country and the Colonies that their existing relation.! should not only lie maintained, but should be drawn still closer, that effect to this policy will be best given by Confederation, that Confederation is not only expedient but practicable, is the conclusion at which he arrives. Readers of the "Home News" will not need to lie told how entirely we sympathise with Sir Julius Vogel's views. Believing as we do that the divorce | which has been contemplated in some quarters between Great Britain and her : i'.,i„„ui A,,,,.,,,]™,.;.™ «-,„,!, l l„. ks

Colonial dependencies, would be as | absolutely fatal tooumational "prestige " as the loss of India, we cannot but trust sincerely that the remarks of the AgentGeneral for New Zealand will receive the fnlW utiontior, both with the authorities in En land and with all classes of Colonial readers, " Lord Kimberley," writes Sir Julius, " administered the Colonial Office not without exerting authority, but exciting it in a manner that indicated his aim to lit the Colonies for a career of independence. Lord Carnarvon administers the department not only without a thought to such a change, but he certainly gives recurring evidence that ho considers the Colonics permanently bound to the Empire." The prevailing idea in the Colonics is that the time will come when the ideas of Lord Kimberley will be accomplished. Is it the wish of the mother country, is it to her interests, is it to the interests of the Colonies themselves, that this consummation shall be witnessed ? In attempting to answer these questions, Sir Julius Vogel at the , outset takes his stand upon the broad and definite principle that tho Colonies, aro tho psopcrty of the Crown, i " Property," he says, " is property, and j tho right to it ought not to he weakened by inexact and infoivnti.il obligations. . j Tho property of tho Sovereign In the dependencies of the Empire should be uio mora Brmlj wrtod if any doubts ro throw i . ;;.c

Mother Country an l( should i ruinated at will, A union li tin : only as long as all parties to it please, i mean* a union open to be insidiously undermined by opponents, and inviting even the attack of friends, who are naturally compelled t i take the contingency, of its ends into their calculations. If true unity is to be maintained, (' mfederation, in' Sir Julias I'ogel's judgment, is essential. And what i •.< tie n. ; enano if tl- s uuM i An u ulei for euii fronts in whi .. I English landed proprietor may see his: ]„■-; i ■ if! ifcty : the renewal and the increase of England's foreign tr I ■ j w'r-i a * - now fa'cmu ' m ' vv.n ih iikeiy tj continue to do so, because she is dealing with unwilling customers, instead of the willing om a whom sne .ueVii':ri onies |-=:.reased sppor tunities for the safe investment of English money. " The emigration to th-_ (. .i,. .[ s sites wr i a 'w Juhua 1 V'ogcl, " during the last twenty-live years has lost Great Britain more of her subjects than the wars of the whole of lie century. It has not been Uio removal [of so many of her subjects to other portions of her dominions with the | purpose of extending the power and • •.,- ip '■■.- ■' th uutry, but it has been the d< pa'rturc of hostile subjects, who, besides liopi ig t i liud a la ire congenial home, have to a greater or lesser extent carried away with them unfriendly feelings to the country they have left The Irish emigration to the United Skates nearly caused Oreat Britain, and pfcsiblv in "the future may yet do so, a war which would cost more than the most lavish liberality could devote to the material improvement of the Colonies." i But Confederation —ami without Con-! federation Sir Julius Vogel despairs of the preservation of unity—can only be accomplished on certain specified conditions, in the first place, the Colonies must bear their burden in the national | expenditure, The fleet belongs to the I nation, and is essentially for the service of the nation—and nothing can justify freeing the Colonics of British America, Soutii'Africa, and Australasia from contribution towards its cost, except the intention to free them from the nation. Secondly, it will be necessary to give the Colonies direct representation in the Imperial Parliament. That Sir Julius Vogel thinks can be managed without thiTdang.n- of a second edition of the 11 . ne Rule difficulties. " for si ine time to come the Colonies (lie writes; would be well content with reprc! 'iitation at a Board of Advice to the Secretaiy of State for the Colonies.

Tiiis, at any rate, would not be a revolutionary si sp, for it would be only following the example of the Council of | the Secretary of State for India. After [ a time, which cold easily be designated I in advance, the population, wealth, and | importance of the Colonies would entitle i thetn to more direct representation, and | their represent stives should form part of ! the Federal legislative body. The eon--1 stitution of the federal Legislation would involve much difficulty. The House of ! Lords, as one ithamber of it, would ! eeiually 1)0 avai aloe for the Federal . I Legislature as i\>r the ordinary Legisi I:! >-. -jf C reat I. ■■■<;.,n:<. Fiiere is nothI ing to prevent pe!_ons who may reside i in the Colonies from being called to the Peerage, .and already many peers possess considerable Cohnial estates. The | House of Connnoiis, as the House of Commons for Great Britain, should not 'he disturbed, it is a question very I important, but which need not be decided at the moment of Confederation, whether the Federal Lower Chamber should be the House of Commons plus the Colonial representatives, or whether the Federal representatives of Groat Britain should he distinctly and separately selected. The Imperial Parliament, until the Federal Parliament grew into being, should, n.s it now is, be superior, and the Government of the United Kingdom would be the executive of the Confederate i I Empire. There are two familiar instances of exceptional representation tnat show ' how easily particular requirements can •be dealt with. In the French Legislature ! the Colonies of France are represented ; ' ; in the House of Representatives of the ' | United States, territories are allowed to

be represented by delegates." Such is Sir Julius Vogel's plan. We do not overlook the many difficulties in the way of its full execution. But the proposal has at least, the merit of being detinite and intelligible, and as such it should be well pondered and thoroughly discussed.